Susie Qute

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Old craft books are so fun to peruse. Whether they suggest making a train out of cardboard oatmeal containers or animals from wooden spools and pipe cleaners, it's fun to imagine my mom and dad working diligently on projects from the past. The colorful graphics are a great bonus, too. I'm planning to frame this dapper fox and hang him on my gallery wall. The original project suggests making a puppet with a painted paper plate for a head.

Thrift and antique stores are great places to find books like the "Do-It Book" from McCall and Golden shown below. I'm often surprised at the advanced level of crafts considered appropriate for young kids. Tools like carving knives, saws, sewing machines, etc. are shown as a perfectly normal thing for a kid to be using, but I don't know many parents who let their kids use sharp objects. I let my son carry a pocket knife and use saws around age 10 with supervision, and he was very responsible. We only had one injury, to a picnic table bench he was using as a saw horse. But that was a great opportunity to teach him about wood putty and paint!

What is a favorite craft from your childhood you passed on to kids in your life? We had a lot of fun with pipe cleaner animals around ages 5-6, which were a great road trip activity.

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Karen and I recently took a class at Glass Axis in Columbus, OH. We've both wanted to try it for ages, and when they offered a Groupon I knew it was time. Plus I was looking for a fun activity to say thanks for being so supportive during finals. I recently graduated from nursing school and got my RN license!

Melting on the "grist" (small bits of colored glass).

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I love how our pieces turned out. Since it was our first time working with glass we didn't really know what kind of techniques to use, so we just messed around. I think we got very lucky, but I'm sure part of that was because Jackie, the instructor, gave us great advice. We plan to return in the future to try out the class to make glass flowers or beads. So fun!

The hardest part was the heat! Even with water and fans we were dripping with sweat. This is definitely something for us to do in the winter when we can't take the cold. The next hardest part was waiting to pick up our glass. We were out of town so had to wait over a week! Normally they're ready a couple of days later.

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Karen and I had a fantastic trip to St. Louis last week. I'd never been and she didn't mind going back. We visited the Gateway Arch, Forest Park museums, and caught a Cardinals game, of course (she's a diehard baseball fan and I like to indulge her). We found the River City to be a friendly, welcoming city that was easy to tour by public transit, both bus and train.

We both love getting off the beaten track so we decided to check out Cherokee Station, a street that sounded a lot like the Short North in Columbus, OH. There are many antique stores, Mexican eateries, and bakeries. Elaine's sandwich shop was a delicious place to recharge after walking and shopping.I prefer the wraps to the sandwiches, which are made on delicious but very dense bread from a bakery down the street.

While in Cherokee Station we popped into a store called buttonmakers,

hoping to buy some souvenir pins for friends and family. They didn't have any ready-made, but Rob scrounged up some pre-printed art samples they'd planned to trash and let us make our own buttons for just $1 each! Using a button machine was very easy and this activity would be fun for anyone age 6 and up. If you aren't in the St. Louis area but want custom buttons, check out their website buttonmakers.net. They are so nice! SMALL GIVEAWAY: first person to comment on this post will get one of the pizza buttons, shown being made at the right!

I was delighted with the simple designs featuring classic St. Louis foods. Shown below are gooey buttercake, St. Louis style pizza, and toasted ravioli. We didn't get around to pizza, but did try the cake after dinner at Copia one night. It is one of the most delicious things I've ever tasted. The best way I can describe it is like cheesecake evolved to the next level. It's the X-men of richness. We tried the toasted ravioli at a restaurant near the stadium but at the risk of incurring the wrath of the locals, I didn't like it nearly as much as Olive Garden's. With so many great things to try in the city, I can see why Tums created this funny ad campaign:

We found ourselves with way too many things to do on one trip, so will venture back in a year or two after the new park by the arch is complete. Here is a photo I took from the top of the arch and from the park near the Old Courthouse.

We bought a pair of earrings featuring the arch's keystone shape from the gift shop. We'll make these into matching pendants, a grown-up version of bff necklaces. :-) It's easy to do by removing the ear wires and adding a jump ring or two.

Thursday, July 16, 2015

My dad was in the military for over 30 years, and our family spent a fair amount of time overseas. Germany has a special place in our hearts. One of my sisters is also in the military, and whenever she goes to Germany keeps her eye out for little gifts. She gave me this owl paper craft a few years ago and I haven't had the heart to cut it out and assemble it. I'm sharing it here in hopes that I'll finally be able to put the little guy together if I tell you all about it.

I love paper crafting but don't have the knack for origami. Projects like this are very appealing to me since no delicate folding is required. There are many other projects available at the printer's website, and they do ship worldwide. Click here to visit the Bärenpresse site. The 3D tulip pot is wunderbar!

The kit she sent me included assembly directions and a little brass bell to hang from the bottom of the "eule." One of the best things about this is the eyes--look closely and you'll see they can be closed in sleep or wide awake.

Do you have favorite ethnic paper crafts? Share a link in the comments!

I'm always trying to find and think of healthy and healthy-ish snacks for work, travel, kids, etc. My current favorite is carrots and hummus. I love chip-sliced carrots for dipping. So much better than baby carrots for delivering hummus or veggie dips. I drop a couple of tablespoons of red pepper or pine nut humus on the bottom, then pack in as many carrots as I can. You'll quickly find the right ratio for you.

I don't always snack healthy as you can see from my favorite snack container, a repurposed ice cream cup with lid. If you want something more indulgent try UDF's Cookies 'n Cream ice cream. The ice cream tastes like Oreo filling. Uh-MAY-zing!

Like the rest of the country, I'm in the midst of an avocado craze that started for me about a year and a half ago. Try plain avocado with lime tortilla chips. Yum! If you are one of the ten people who hasn't tried avocado yet, they're ripe if they give just a bit when you squeeze them. If they're hard as a rock let sit for a few days and check again. And again. And again. The window of perfect ripeness

is small and hard to find, but so worth it. Pass over any that are very squishy. I like to use the spife from a pack of Mighties kiwis when I'm on the go. This knife and spoon in one makes it easy to enjoy my favorite snack.

For convenience I love Go Picnic packs, like Lunchables but so much better. We tried the salami and crackers with asiago cheese spread. Bonus--little puffy chocolate pillow cookies, sort of like Pirouettes filled with Nutella. My friend Kerri over at SkepticMaMa enlightened me about these. Thanks! I got mine on sale at Target. :-)

Share your favorite snacks in the comments. I have at least two road trips ahead of me this summer and need portable foods.

Thursday, July 9, 2015

I've been on the hunt for a vintage or vintage-inspired gold evening bag for some time, but none I found were quite right. A friend gave me an awesome grab bag of yarn a while back and this gold S. Charles Collezione was perfect. I couldn't find the perfect pattern so decided to improvise my own.

I swatched several lace patterns, and decided on the second #6 pattern charted here. It was easy to adjust to working in the round.

I knew I wanted to do something like an antique reticule, but needed it to be very practical. I thought of a drawstring closure, but was afraid the delicate yarn would fray too quickly. I stumbled on the Leafy Knot Clutch's innovative slip over handles and adapted the idea for my project.

I crocheted a dense lining from a wool-acrylic blend, then sewed it to the purse at all edges.

I didn't write a pattern for this project since it was so easy. You can see more pictures at my Ravelry project page at http://www.ravelry.com/projects/SusieQute/evening-bag. If you're interested in a detailed pattern, let me know in the comments here or on Ravelry--if there's interest I'll be happy to write it out as I make a second one.

Thursday, July 2, 2015

I love getting free tees from work and special events, but they NEVER flatter me. I'd really love to wear this T-shirt to work, but it's a bit too big. Maybe I should mention I work in sexual health so it's totally suitable for work? It came in a swag bag at a safety seminar and sadly I didn't check the size before I left.

I've made this style of swing top from scratch before, and thought it would be perfect for a T-shirt makeover. There's minimal, easy sewing if you skip the pocket and use a ribbon for the bow.

Nitty Gritty

Materials

Oversized tee (loose fitting in the hips)

Matching thread

Ribbon or very long, narrow scarf

Pins

Scissors

Ruler or measuring tape

Iron

Chalk

Extra trim for pocket(s) (optional)

Directions

Cut off sleeves and straight across the neck. Save sleeves if you plan to add a pocket or two.

Cut off another inch or two in the front.

You can either fold a 1/2 inch hem along the underarms as shown below or cut, pin and sew along the red dotted lines as shown above.

Cut in slightly along the curves so the folded hem won't pucker.

Sew with stretch stitch of your choice. If you need help with sewing knits, there's some great advice here.

Fold over the front and back 1 1/4" and pin. Press seam.

Sew straight across front and back with a 1" seam allowance.

Thread your scarf or ribbon through the front and back seams you just sewed. Sewing tip: when threading a ribbon or elastic through a seam casing, fold one end in half and put a safety pin through it. The pin is much easier to guide through the seam casing than a plan ribbon

A safety pin makes it easier to add the ribbon.

Try on your top! Tie the ends in a jaunty bow on one side. You can be done here, OR you can add pockets. I chose to add one pocket to help balance the visual impact of the bow. Mark you pocket locatoin(s) with white chalk.

Use this pocket template. Size up the picture until it measures about 5 1/2" on your monitor and trace, or copy the picture into another program and resize until it measures 5 1/2".

Line up the already hemmed edge of the sleeve with the top straight edge of pattern. Cut out pockets.

Make three pleats and pin.

Sew down with a basting stitch 3/8" from edge.

Turn a 1/2" hem under and pin. Sew hem down.

If you'd like to add a decorative trim to the top of your

pocket, fold over top of pocket, pin in place and sew down. You may need to change to a different needle depending on your trim fabric. I used a sharps 80/12 needle suitable for fine fabrics.